Social

What was it really like to live in an English village at the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign? To what extent was it a close-knit community? How deeply was it divided by wealth and religious belief? Was the village even an important part of the identity of its members? Susan Amussen addresses these questions in one village in East Anglia.

'Manners makyth man...' but as the 19th century dawned; English intellectuals became increasingly concerned with expanding education and 'useful knowledge' down to the lower orders.

Ralph Houlbrooke traces back the distinctive roots of the modern family.

Tony Aldous on a Worcestershire town whose natural resources brought the Romans there.

'Politics didn't matter': the ordinary Germany often insulated himself from the tensions of the Third Reich by concentrating on its work and leisure benefits.

'Trappings of popery and rags of the beast'. Mince-pies, mummers, holly and church services all fell victim to a determined Puritan attempt to stamp out the celebration of Christmas under the Commonwealth.

The legacy of empire brought nearly half a million blacks and Asians to Britain in the fifties in search of a better life.

A Satanic conspiracy designed from the beginning to eliminate European Jewry? Or ad hoc responses aimed at replenishing Nazi zeal and producing convenient scapegoats? A fresh look at one of the most hideous episodes in world history.

The continuing struggle in Ireland, and the atrocities which it produces within Great Britain, are given full attention by the media.